Bioclimatic Zonation in a High Arctic Region: Central Queen Elizabeth Islands

Edlund, S A

doi:10.4095/111492

Cited by 28 publications

(34 citation statements)

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“…The 'high arctic desert district' includes mostly inland areas characterized by its extremely continental climate and the presence of mineral soils without accumulations of organic material, and the vegetation is characterized by certain species: Dryas integrifolia and Kobresia myosuroides in dry habitats and Carex stans in wet sites. The species list given by Holmen includes species which, in other parts of Greenland, are distinctly related to inland areas with low define polar deserts in agreement with Edlund (1983) as areas where low temperatures in the growing season restrict and nearly inhibit the growth of vascular plants.…”

Section: Delimitation and Distribution Of Polar Desert Zone In Greenlandmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…1). The bioclimatic zone 1 by Edlund (1983), including areas north of the northern limit of prostrate shrubs and sedges, has less than 35 vascular species. Elvebakk (1989) and Aleksandrova (1988) listed 44 species from the polar deserts of Svalbard and 50 from the Barents province of Russia.…”

Section: Species Diversity Of the Arctic Polar Desert Zonementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The primary ecological factors controlling the impoverishment of flora and vegetation of the coasts around the Arctic Ocean are low temperatures and a short growing season (Young 1971;Edlund 1983;Elvebakk 1985;Funder & Abrahamsen 1988). Aleksandrova (1988) estimates the annual radiation balance to be < 10 kcal/cm 2 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Floristical and ecological characterization of the polar desert zone of Greenland

Bay

1997

J Vegetation Science

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Species composition and biomass of four plant communities were investigated in two coastal polar desert areas in eastern North Greenland, bordering the North East Water Polynya -an ice-free sea area kept open by upwelling -and compared with inland areas in North Greenland. Herb barren, the poorest type, has a species richness of 6 species/m 2 , a cover of 0.7 %, and an above-ground biomass of 0.6 g/m 2 (vascular plants). The richest type, Saxifraga oppositifolia snowbed, has 10 species/m 2 , 5.0 % cover, and 11.2 g/m 2 biomass.A floristic and vegetation boundary exists a few kilometres from the coast. The coastal areas bordering the North East Water Polynya had an impoverished flora and vegetation compared to areas near the ice-covered sea, possibly caused by very low summer temperatures and high frequency of clouds.A new delimitation of the polar deserts of Greenland is proposed on the basis of the number of vascular plant species, the occurrence of species with a specific inland distribution in North Greenland and the dominating life forms. At present the polar desert zone includes only areas within a zone up to ca. 15 km from the outer coast of high arctic Greenland -north of ca. 80°N. Large areas formerly classified as polar deserts in eastern North Greenland, as well as in Washington Land in western North Greenland, are excluded. New floristic data confirm that Greenland is correctly included in the Canadian province of the arctic polar deserts, whereas there is no reason for subdividing the polar deserts of the Canadian province.

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Section: Delimitation and Distribution Of Polar Desert Zone In Greenlandmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Species Diversity Of the Arctic Polar Desert Zonementioning

confidence: 99%

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Floristical and ecological characterization of the polar desert zone of Greenland

Bay

1997

J Vegetation Science

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“…1), the largest (42 220 km') of the western Queen Elizabeth Islands in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Vegetation cover is composed of lichens, bryophytes, graminoids, herbs, cushion plants, and prostrate shrubs (e.g., Babb and Bliss, 1974;Edlund, 1983;Edlund and Alt, 1989). The strongest characteristics of the vegetation cover are its extreme sparsity over much of the area and its extreme lack of vertical displacement in its growth forms (several centimetres or less in height above ground level).…”

Section: Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The area is composed of "polar desert," with no woody plants and only O-10% plant cover; "polar semi-desert," with moister areas having 520% vascular plant cover; "diverse terrain," which includes a more mesic gradation of polar semidesert with woody plant species present and interspersed with some patches of tundra or sedge-moss meadows; and some large "wet sedge-moss meadows" (Babb and Bliss, 1974). The area falls within zones 2 and 3 of Edlund's (1983) "bioclimatic zonation." The geology has been described in detail by Tozer and Thorsteinsson (1964).…”

Section: Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonrandom Distribution of Antlers Cast by Peary Caribou Bulls, Melville Island, Northwest Territories

Miller¹,

Barry²

1992

ARCTIC

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ABSTRACT. An aerial survey was carried out in July 1987 to determine the pattern of distribution of antlers cast by Peary caribou (Rangifer tarandus pearyi) bulls on north-central and northeastern Melville Island, Northwest Territories, Canada. Four transect lines were flown parallel to the coastal shorelines of Hecla and Griper Bay and adjacent Sabine Bay at distances of about 0.8, 2.4, 5.0, and 10.0 km inland. A four-person survey crew was used in a Bell-206B turbo-helicopter flown at about 90 m above ground level and at an air speed of about 160 kmh". We recorded 531 antlers cast by bulls along ca. 11 10 km of transects: 55% within 1.6 km of the seacoast and 89% within 3.2 km. Antlers were not randomly distributed along or among transects (p < 0.05). The antlers were clumped in distribution and their numbers declined significantly with distance from the seacoast (p < 0.05). We suggest that use of such coastal rutting areas by low-density populations of Peary caribou would confer, without any precognition or anticipation on the part of the animals, maximal timely contact between rutting bulls and cows in heat during the short temporal peak of the autumn rut by reducing a two-dimensional search problem to an essentially linear one.

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Canadian vegetation sensitivity to projected climatic change at three organizational levels

Lenihan

Neilson

1995

Climatic Change

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Bioclimatic Zonation in a High Arctic Region: Central Queen Elizabeth Islands

Cited by 28 publications

References 0 publications

Floristical and ecological characterization of the polar desert zone of Greenland

Floristical and ecological characterization of the polar desert zone of Greenland

Nonrandom Distribution of Antlers Cast by Peary Caribou Bulls, Melville Island, Northwest Territories

Canadian vegetation sensitivity to projected climatic change at three organizational levels

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